15 questions

while on vacation the lovely marta of martawrites.com is having a bunch of different quest bloggers all answer the same 15 questions.  though im not one of her guests, i thought i'd answer them on my blog just for fun. 

:: no matter what mood i'm in, i can always go for a: phone call from a friend.

:: my favorite go-to outfit would have to be: jeans, my favorite Old Navy tee and a scarf

:: a good source of inspiration is:  my old notebooks.  it does my soul good to look back and see what excited me before and try to find that same feeling again in my life now.

:: am so glad my parents taught me: that i don't have to be the best, i just have to do my best.

:: a song i like to dance to is:  the only one i dance to at del-red: "honky tonk badonkadonk" by trace adkins.  crazy, i know!  but our friend john always sings it during karaoke just for me and my friend nani.  once it starts we can't help but dance! we call it the donky kong song.  its our favorite line. 

:: i wish everyone knew about:  dearblankpleaseblank.com  it made me smile and want to make up my own.

:: the best thing in my makeup bag is: makeup from avon.Mark.  i love everything in their line. 

:: my dream spring break vacation spot is: road trip to california.  i want to see the redwoods.

:: this may be a surprise, but i am passionate about:  design. 

:: a favorite book that changed me for the better:  "girl of the limberlost" by gene stratton porter.  my absolute favorite book ever.  its worth checking out of the library. 

:: one of my pet peeves is:  indecisiveness.  just make a decision already!! 

:: my favorite daily ritual would have to be: calling chris right after i wake up. 

:: i am trying to be better at:  not saying negative things about myself.

:: the most recent rad thing i found online was:  hair blogs and tutorials.  im having fun trying new things with my hair.

:: i can't live without: talking to my mum every day (or as often as possible)

did you learn something new about me??  do you want to add this to your blog too??  link me up!!  i'd love to hear from you. 

moving forward

as of my last update on the house front, we found a place that we like.  really like!  and then we saw the breakdown from the mortgage company.  its a little out of our price-range.  we could do it, but then we wouldn't have a life.  and we like having a life! :P  so we're moving forward and onward.

the great thing about the house we looked at, is that it is part of a development in our area with local builders.  so we talked to our real estate agent again and i had an idea:  maybe they have a different floor plan that is open like we love, but a bit more within our price range.  so this afternoon she came by with some print-outs for us to look at. 

we narrowed it down to a couple options.  she's checking with the developer to see if its possible to build the house we really like without the den, to cut down on square footage and maybe bring the price within our range.  the other floorplan is open with minimal "hallways" and is totally a great option.  we're hoping to be able to get inside one that is already built to get a feel for it and see if we like it. 

so that's what we're waiting on...news from the developer.  in the meantime, we're going to a couple open houses in town on saturday to keep our options open.  who knows?  maybe we'll find the perfect place for us.  all i know is that im so anxious to get out of the place we're in now.  ready to move on with our life. 

i'll probably share an update from the open houses on saturday.  we'll see how it goes.

designing again

i am so excited to share my most recent blog makeover.  my scrappy online friend Patty did a twitter shout-out saying she was looking to redo her blog.  and after a couple years hiatus on the blog design front, i decided it was time to dip my toes back in and offered to work with her. 

and we had a blast!!  we sourced inspiration for the feel she was going for, the colors she was drawn to and the fonts she just loved.  in her words she was looking for "something out of an art journal with a twist of vintage and a pinch of scrapbook" and i ran with it... this is the final design:

i am so loving how it all came together.  yellow and grey with a touch of aqua.  i think its just so "patty" and she's loving it so far too. 

i want to take this chance to thank patty for trusting me with her blog and for giving me the chance to get back into blog designs.  im now so excited to move forward.  are you looking for a new look for your online home??  perhaps im in your price range!  :)  for more information see my sHe*deSigNs tab at the top of my blog.  i'd love to work with you too! 

girl's camp 2011

i have been editing pictures and compiling the stories i want to tell all about this trip for awhile now, and today im finally going to share!!  (for my post about what i hoped this trip would be, just for positive comparison, click HERE)

first a little bit of back story... 
i was invited by my friend Lisa to go with her to girl's camp this year.  Girls Camp started many years ago by a lovely woman and a couple of her friends who rented a cabin at Camp David on Lake Crescent.  they made it a tradition and each year more and more friends wanted to come.  Now she rents out the entire camp for a week and over 80 women come together to enjoy time away, crafts and friendship.  i was soooo excited to be invited along this year. 

we started our 9 hour road trip to get to camp early that morning and crossed the Puget Sound by ferry from Seattle.  I adore ferry rides.  and luckily it was a gorgeous day...

it is gorgeous in the Olympic Peninsula.  heavy moss covers everything and the trees are so tall and majestic.  we had a little bit of snow coming in on the first day.  and we saw some friendly animals.  here is the main lodge, our cabin (fit all 11 of us in our group) and the lake...

i think i split my days pretty evenly between sleeping in our cabin and visiting up at the main lodge.  i took soooo many naps!  and man did it feel good.  its neat to do what you want to do all day and feel no guilt.  i read a lot of my books i brought (including the 2011 Year Book!) and took so many pictures. 

breakfast and dinner each day was provided by the woman who organized the whole thing.  each cabin had a meal they were to prepare.  we made baked potatoes, chili and broccoli for our meal.  it was fun to work together in a huge kitchen and do dishes with the professional washer.  oh the small joys! 

one morning after breakfast our group decided to go hiking up to a waterfall.  the hike was amazing!  i could barely put down my camera.  we had fun visiting and playing along the way. 

one night in the lodge there was karaoke...i was ALL OVER THAT as you can imagine.  its my favorite.  saturday night there were skits and jokes and throughout the day people offered classes on things like watercolor painting and jewelry making for just a donation to cover the cost of materials.  lots of people brought scrapbooking and other crafts.  lisa's mother-in-law brought fleece for all the kids and made those knot together fleece blankets one day.  super fun!

then on sunday we went to the meeting in Forks.  it was interesting to bombard this tiny little Kingdom Hall with all sisters, but we were warmly welcomed.  after the meeting we drove out to LaPush and went to the beach.  It was super windy that day which made for some cool waves and fun pictures. 

and as i had hoped, i made a few new friends...one in particular named Ariel.  we're a few years apart in age, but we had a lot in common and had a lot of fun hanging out together.  we watched movies on her laptop, shared music and stories of our lives.  she lives on Whidbey Island (where chris' grandparents live) so hopefully we'll be able to meet up again soon.  on our last morning there we went down to the lake to take some pictures together.  things got silly really quick!

this was truly one of the best trips i've ever had, and one of my favorite memories.  there was a shift inside of me that came from having a chance to breath, contemplate and share things with people outside my "bubble" if you will.  but it was so hard being away from Husband.  this was the longest we'd ever been apart and i had no cell reception at Camp David.  so the night before i left we each wrote letters to each other to open while i was away...one for each night.  what chris wrote was so sweet and touching and meant so much to me.  helped me get through the time apart.  i will treasure those letters forever. 

so that was my trip!!  i was so exhausted after the long drive home, but i wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  sorry its taken me so long to share, but i wanted to do it just right.  it needed time to percolate, if you will. 

oh friday

five really good things:

1. yes, i realize i haven't blogged since the 17th, BUT i have some really fun blog posts in the works including the story of my trip to the olympic peninsula.  so excited to share!

2.  today my darling friend Nancy is having a 1000 Posts Party!! she's got tons of fun stuff going on that i can't wait to participate in and wanted to share with all my friends too!  come join the fun HERE.

3. SWIMMING!!  chris and i went to our local Best Western hotel last night and went swimming in their pool.  we just found out recently that they are open to the public.  we swam hard, played around and tried out some water exercises.  it was super fun and im hoping we'll be able to go back again soon.

4. cool mint creme oreos.  enough said.  ;)

5. Pintrest.  this is my new favorite way to organize my inspiration online.  and its interesting to see patterns reveal themselves and see my "style" being defined.  follow me and see all my boards HERE.  

i hope you all have a fabulous friday.  i'll be back soon with more post and regularly schedules programming.